Swift
by RheaofAnimals
Summary: Fast stridden one, Blue eyed vine cat, Destroyer of myths. Exiled from VineClan during her warrior ceremony for a crime she did not commit, Swiftpaw is forced into the life of a rogue. Please leave reviews. Thanks!
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

"_I, Eternitystar, leader of VineClan, _call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn." The black-and-white she-cat standing atop the tall tree towering over the center of VineClan's whole territory, the Hightree, glanced at the blue-gray and white tabby she-cat, her apprentice, standing next to her, the leader's pale green eyes brimming with pride. "Swiftpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do!" Swiftpaw exclaimed, her neck fur bristling with excitement and pride. But she stopped herself. That was not how a loyal, brave warrior of VineClan would act. "Er, I mean, I do, Eternitystar. I am honored," she corrected, straightening herself and puffing out her chest.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your war—" Eternitystar was cut off by a yowl that erupted through the camp.

"Wait!" A panting pale ginger tom with ragged fur burst through the lush forest that surrounded the camp, his blue eyes wide and his sides heaving. "Stop the ceremony! I know who killed him! I know who killed Mythstar. It was…" The tom collapsed on his side, revealing a nasty cut on his hind leg and unable to complete his sentence.

"Novaspeed!" Eternitystar yowled, seeming to forget about the apprentice right next to her. Leaping onto the tree trunk and climbing down, she commanded, "Shortleg, attend to him. Novaspeed has returned from his quest, seeming successful, and he shall be honored as a hero."

The VineClan leader crouched down next to her injured deputy as the apprentice in the tree whimpered too quietly for anyone in the crowd to hear, frowning. A dumpy brown tom with a white muzzle made his way towards them, cobwebs stuffed in his mouth. He limped on three legs; his left foreleg was shorter than the others and didn't even touch the ground. Behind him trotted a small pure black tomcat, who happened to be the VineClan leader's niece. In his mouth, he held a moss packet containing poppy seeds.

Shortleg spit the cobwebs onto the ground and used his undersized limb to apply them onto the ginger tom's wound, while the black tom, Shortleg's apprentice, dropped his packet in front of Novaspeed's mouth. It immediately unraveled to show the delicate seeds inside. "Commence eating," he commanded proudly. This was his second day as medicine cat apprentice, and he aldready had an injured cat to attend to.

"No," the VineClan deputy grunted. "The murderer… it was that apprentice…. Swiftpaw."

Swiftpaw, up on the tree, was flabbergasted. Her jaw dropped. So did Eternitystar's. "Swiftpaw? But she was just an apprentice (she is about to become a warrior… if what you say is not true, that is) when that happened. Mythstar was our great, strong leader," the leader inquired.

"Actually," Shortleg the medicine cat piped up, looking ashamed of himself, "a prophecy came to me at the last half-moon medicine cat meeting. I didn't much sense out of it, so I didn't say anything." He inhaled and began to recite the prophecy from the cats' warrior ancestors, StarClan.

"_Fast-stridden one,_

_Blue-eyed vine cat,_

_Destroyer of myths._"

Eternitystar frowned and turned to Swiftpaw, her normally placid green eyes now burning with anger, sadness, and confusion. The apprentice gulped. She knew what was coming. Her blue eyes burned with rage. She had done nothing! "Swiftpaw," Eternitystar began, "it seems Novaspeed arrived at the appropriate time, cutting off the end to your ceremony. I do not know how, or why, you did this, but it is clear to me that you no longer deserve to be a member of VineClan. Does the Clan not agree?" The cats below either stayed quiet or murmured their agreement. "Then, from now on, Swiftpaw, you are a rogue. Do not let us see your face here ever again."

"Wait! I have one last request," Swiftpaw begged, her blue eyes filled with tears that refused to fall in front of the whole Clan. How could they do this? She was being exiled for a crime she had not committed. Truly, she loved Mythstar as much as the next cat. What made them think that she had killed him? Oh. StarClan's stupid prophecy, of course. In her mind, she swore to herself that she hated StarClan.

Below her, the leader nodded nonetheless, her eyes narrowed. "I trained as a warrior…. Before you ban me, may I just get my warrior name?"

"Never!" Eternitystar snarled, her voice cracking with sadness. "Becoming a true warrior means you followed the warrior code, which you have not. Now be gone!"

At once, the Clan became one mass at the base of the tree, hissing and snarling their hatred at Swiftpaw for killing Mythstar, their beloved leader who had ruled VineClan for countless leaf-bares. "But I did nothing!" Swiftpaw cried, tears streaming down her eyes. In a blur, she scrambled down the Hightree, falling when she was near the ground and landing with a thump. That did not stop her. She scrambled away through the trees, seemingly destined to never see her Clan again.

* * *

That night, Novaspeed lay in the medicine cat's den along with Shortleg and his apprentice, Pepperpaw. The medicine cat could not sleep. His yellow eyes stared up at the dark brown roof of his den. Something told him—maybe his instinct, maybe his conscious—that Swiftpaw was innocent, and the prophecy kept nagging at his head. 

Novaspeed, who apparently couldn't sleep either, sensed Shortleg's restlessness. He rolled onto his side facing the medicine cat, grunting with the pain in his leg. Hearing him, the brown tom rolled to face the deputy. Novaspeed was smiling.

"Hey, thanks for helping me out today," he murmured. "You're good at prophecies. And don't worry; I won't rat on you."

Shortleg blinked, confused, and rolled to face the ceiling again as the deputy turned away as well. Good at prophecies? Won't rat on you? What did he mean? Maybe he meant that he was good at deciphering StarClan's foresights, but why would he "rat" on him for making sense of it?


	2. Two Nomads in MistClan Territory

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Two Nomads in MistClan Territory**

_After much walking with Swift _in front of Snaptwig the whole time, they reached an appropriate area: an abandoned badger set on a hill, untidy, covered with moss, and a bit deformed. Just that told the two that it was safe. Inside, it smelled musty and, of course, like badger, but they quickly fixed that up. Swift scent-marked the place while Snaptwig brought in some fresh-kill, filling it with the scent of cat and delicious meat.

Nomads, they moved from place to place whenever it was necessary. The marshy area in DriftClan where they used to live (which had been pretty worthless for the Clan anyways, prey-wise) had flooded, unfortunately forcing the rogues to make a move. Now, they camped out at the edge of MistClan territory, near the Twolegplace, which, indeed, was pretty misty in the morning.

The two settled down with a mouse for each of them. Swift smiled at her friend and mewed, "Snaptwig, tell me your story again."  
Across from her, the brown tabby tom rolled his amber eyes. "All right, all right." The gray she-cat straightened herself out, ready to listen while she munched on her fresh-kill. "Once upon a time," he began, "I was a kit. Just as I am now, I was a rogue. My mother, who taught me everything I know, was a rogue, too. She told me about the Clan cats and that her mate was a Clan medicine cat. I was inspired by the stories of the Clan cats she told me, and I wanted to be one. Then, I was abducted by Twolegs. I escaped, but I never saw my mother again. And then I was living on my own, and I met you. The end."

Swift lashed at him with her striped gray tail, frowning. "It gets worse and worse every time you tell it!" Sighing, she stared outside. Red and orange leaves painted the ground, and a quick breeze caused more to fall. "Come on," she mewed. "Leaf-bare will be on us in no time, and the rest of our stock was washed away in DriftClan."

Every leaf-fall, the duo collected what they called a stock. Then in leaf-bare, when Clans were ravenous for food, they stayed in their shelter, living off the gathered fresh-kill. You must be wondering: but wouldn't the prey rot? Some of the stock always did rot, but enough was left for the cats to survive. In the region of the four warrior Clans, VineClan, MistClan, DriftClan, and NettleClan, it always snowed during leaf-bare and leaf-fall, especially in the mountainous regions of MistClan. Simply, Swift and Snaptwig just buried the stock in a cold place very close to their shelter, leaving it until the arrival of leaf-bare and, in MistClan and VineClan's case, the first blizzard.

Snaptwig complained about how much more time was left, but he followed his companion nonetheless. They went their separate ways, but they knew to stay in close range in case a MistClan warrior showed up. In seconds, Swift had launched after a squirrel and ended its fate. With her ability to run so fact, Swift was a very successful hunter, and after being with her for countless moons, Snaptwig knew she could outrun any prey animal.

The tom plodded after her trail until he caught the scent of a vole. He spotted his target up ahead. With the Clan cats' hunting technique that his mother had taught him, he dropped into a hunter's crouch and slowly crept closer and closer. The vole went about its own business, scurrying through leaves, when a brown tabby tom hopped upon it, killing it with a fatal bite to the neck. He buried it in the dirt, then sniffed, trying to figure out where Swift was. _Too far, _he thought. He was too far away from her.

Snaptwig took a moment to sniff his surroundings. Quickly picking up her scent, he veered to the right. There she was, her striped back facing him, and her body crouching behind a bush. Deciding she was probably going after prey, he silently stood, waiting for her to dash forward using her extreme speed. Instead, she unexpectedly turned her head, her blue eyes filled with terror and her blue-gray ears flattened. "Shh," she hissed almost inaudibly, "a patrol!"

As Snaptwig raised his head, he too saw a group of two MistClan warriors, their deputy, Frostblade, and an apprentice. Thankfully, he wasn't true to his name as he silently crept towards Swift, lying next to her.

Both of them had experience with this situation. Swift watched as they scent-marked their territory. She guessed that they would be moving to their camp… towards them. With their well-practiced Apel, or "Approaching-patrol-emergency-language," she brushed her short-haired tail over her friend's shoulder and flattened her ears for a few seconds, signaling that they needed to leave.

Snaptwig flicked his ears once, telling her that he received the message. Then, she opened her mouth wide, licking her lips, and narrowed her eyes. The first part meant to get away, and the second part added to it meant that they had to get away from camp. The tom flicked his ears again.

They dashed forward, not bothering to pick up their prey while trying to make as little noise as possible. Obviously, Swift was several fox-lengths ahead from her companion, but she kept checking back on him.

But Snaptwig could hear crashing in the undergrowth behind him, and his amber eyes widened. Only one name repeated itself in his mind: MistClan. He bristled his tail and repeatedly waved it up and down, meaning either "close" or "on our trail."

Suddenly, a white shape hurled out of the bushes and landed on top of Snaptwig. "Good work, Swirlpaw!" Three more cats appeared behind it: one, a long-haired silver she-cat, stood proudly and dominantly over the rogue, while the other two, both toms, one with dark gray fur, the other with a pale brown tabby coat, lingered, snarling hostilely.

Not a moment too late, Swift flung herself onto the cream and brown apprentice with the curled tail that had pounced on Snaptwig, sending both of them into the dark gray warrior. "Snaptwig, run!" In a blur, the tabby tom sprang to his paws, a bit hesitant. Of course he needed to help his friend, but they could never fight off all the MistClan warriors.

Instead, Frostblade made his choice for him. "Rayheart, help me get the big one!" she growled, immediately leaping onto Snaptwig. Snarling, he slashed at the deputy's face with unsheathed claws before Rayheart, the light brown warrior attacked him in the flank.

Nearby, Swift struggled with Swirlpaw and the other MistClan warrior, Echoscreech. They had her pinned down. But with a powerful kick of her long, skinny legs, she sent Swirlpaw into the dirt, dazed for a few moments. Then the rogue rolled onto her side and bit into Echoscreech's shoulder, clawing into his face and neck. Snarling, the warrior pushed at her white-pelted stomach with a rough gray paw and aimed to bite her neck.

Before he could, though, Swift slid away from under him, only to run into Swirlpaw. The rogue she-cat launched forward, and, soon, they were in a tussle of claws. After moments of scratching, she kicked a battered Swirlpaw away, emerging as the winner with a shredded ear and numerous bleeding spots.

Then, she ran to help Swift. Frostblade and a severely wounded Rayheart were still keeping up, and Echoscreech was approaching. They could not win this battle. They had to run. She pounced onto Rayheart, surprising him, and clawed into his back. As he lay, not dead, but too wounded to fight, Swift clawed Echoscreech, who had been trying to sneak up on her. Two against two. Could they make it, even though they were much more tired? Echoscreech dug into an aldready-existing wound, causing pain to explode in his opponent. Swift cried out, though her voice was husky from loss of blood.

Snaptwig was in bad shape as well. Frostblade kept going for his neck, but he managed to keep her away. Now, the she-cat had her claws embedded in his right forepaw like she was trying to tear it off. He kept yowling with pain, as did Swift.

Yowling… Yowling… It seemed that was all she could hear as claws dug into her. More yowling…


	3. Three Dreams and a Cat Breeder

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Three Dreams and a Cat Breeder**

Three dreams bothered Swift that night. She slept through all of them without waking up. First, she saw the blurry figure of a gray cat running. She had no clue where she was in that dream. Maybe just watching… without a body.

The second dream just brought back painful memories. Swift was lying in a large, comfy den by herself, but when she looked down, her paws were white; however, she did not have much time to think about it. All of a sudden, a slender ginger tom raced into the den with surprising speed. "Eternitystar, MistClan are attacking at the slide-ditch! The morning patrol is being overpowered."

She did not want to trust him, but her paws got up to follow the tom without her brain telling them to do so. A pang of remembrance pierced Swift's heart as the tom led her through the trees, all covered with moss and vines. They walked and walked until they approached a section of the ground where a landslide had created a large hole. It was called the slide-ditch. "Novaspeed, where are the MistClan warriors… and _our _warriors?" she heard herself asking.

"I don't know," mewed the other tom. "Let me take a look." He crept behind Swift like he was searching for them, but, suddenly, he rammed into her, sending her into the ditch. Swift screamed as she was engulfed in blackness.

Moments later, it seemed that she was above the ditch, watching Novaspeed, the tom who had pushed her, walk into the forest. A mottled gray and white tom, followed by two she-cats, one young, one old, made their way out of the bushes to great him. Novaspeed turned to face them, a worried expression on his face. It seemed he was good at making those. "Novaspeed, my patrol and I followed your trail, but we couldn't find the fox," the tom reported.  
"I'm sure I scented it." The ginger deputy sighed as if he were trying to choke back tears. Something told Swift it was a phony act. "Oh… but it's no matter Grayear. No matter… at all." Novaspeed turned around, his head low to the ground.

"Novaspeed? What's wrong?" the tom asked.

"What's wrong? What's wrong, you ask?" The deputy was growling. "Our beloved leader has died!" He broke into sobs. "So soon after Mythstar's death, too!"

The scene faded, and Swift moved onto another dream. This time, she was watching the scene invisibly.

She seemed to be sitting in a den with Novaspeed and another familiar face: Shortleg, VineClan's loyal medicine cat, who had his deep amber eyes burning into the other tom. "You… you killed her."

Novaspeed's face twisted in a confused manor. "Killed who?"  
"Eternitystar… and I'm guessing you killed Mythstar, too, not that poor apprentice!" Shortleg paused, unsheathing his claws then sheathing them again. "Yes… "Fast-stridden one: your name has 'speed' in it. Blue-eyed vine cat: you have blue eyes. Destroyer of myths: you killed Mythstar. It's all clear to me now."  
Novaspeed stood up, a wicked grin on his face. He stood face to face with Shortleg. "You fool." Suddenly, he slashed across the pudgy tom's face with unsheathed claws. "I thought you were on my side. Either way, it seems that our little secret cannot be shared." He waved his tail like the drama king he was and turned his head away. "And to prevent that from happening… it seems that I must banish you from this Clan." Then he turned to the medicine cat, his teeth bared viciously. "Now be gone. If you dare show your face in VineClan again or you tell another soul about this, I will show no mercy," he growled coldly.

And she finally woke up to the sound and feeling of the ground rumbling.

When she opened her eyes, she was laying next to a large brown thing that towered over her and kind of resembled a tree—except it had no leaves or branches and spanned for several fox-lengths. As a surge of pain rushed through her, reminding her of the earlier encounter, she recognized a familiar brown shape next to her. At first, she thought it had something to do with her dreams—which she realized she had just forgotten about—or she was still dreaming.

"Thank the warriors' ancestors! You're awake!"

But surely enough, she could recognize Snaptwig's voice. "It's the warriors that got us into this mess," she retorted, looking around by only moving her eyes. "Snaptwig, where are we?" The stronger tom was hurt, but he had less pain and injuries.

"Well, the MistClan warriors chased us into the Twolegplace. You were running, but I had to help you along, since you were half unconscious. I'm not sure if you remember that. Anyways, I came here to rest, and this other cat talked to me through this thing (I used to call it a tree barrier in my kittypet days). He says he can help."

The two lay resting there for a few moments. The floor was cold, gray, completely solid dirt. Some crimson trees with falling leaves loomed around, but it smelled nothing like the forest. A Thunderpath sat right next to them, and monsters kept zooming past. Fortunately, on their travels, Swift and Snaptwig had gotten used to monsters. Several Twoleg nests lined the path of solid dirt on either side. To Swift, the scene was so urban and unfamiliar.

Suddenly, the tree barrier swung open, and a Twoleg stepped out. Frightened, the two rogues tried to scramble away, though Swift fell because of her wounds. Saying something, it scooped them up in one paw for each cat as they struggled. Giving up quickly, Swift ceased trying to escape and closed her eyes, tired from blood loss.

Snaptwig stopped as well, still in the Twoleg's arm. Something had caught his eye. It was the cat who had helped them. He was a brown tom with white on his muzzle and amber eyes. One of his front legs was shorter than the other. The two toms stared at each other, amber eyes to amber eyes, as Snaptwig was carried away to the Twoleg nest. If a connection had been made, neither shared it. The Twoleg said something, and the other cat followed them in to the nest, limping on three legs. That told Snaptwig that he was safe.

If the other brown tom hadn't been there, the sight inside would have made him attack the Twoleg right away. The scents of kittypets, loners, and cats from all Clans engulfed the room. Cats stood, cramped in rows and rows of cages in one compartment of the nest. Most of them had two cats, each with a food bowl and a water bowl. The cages where the kittypet scent was too overpowering had toys.

The Twoleg took Swift and Snaptwig into a much safer looking nest compartment (not that they ever looked safe), and the horrifying scene disappeared behind a door. Beneath his feet was a piece of soft dirt—called a carpet, as he knew from his kittypet days—and surrounding the room were purple cushiony objects: sofas. He knew Twolegs hated it when animals rested on them.

Carefully, the Twoleg set Snaptwig and Swift down on the carpet, but Swift was aldready asleep. It brought in two bowls, one with dry cat food pellets and one with water that lacked the taste of the forest.

The other tom limped over to them and took a seat across from Snaptwig. Straight away, he meowed, "The Twoleg will help you regain your strength, but you cannot stay long. What is your name?"

The rogue frowned. "Why not?" he asked. It wasn't like he _wanted _to be cooped up with a Twoleg and some fat kittypet, but he didn't like the way he had said "you cannot stay long" with such an imperative tone. Also, he was surprised that the cat said "Twoleg," not "housefolk." "Oh, and I'm Snaptwig."

Slowly, the older brown cat nodded. "I am Sammy." His tail curled around his paws before he continued. "My Twoleg is a cat breeder. I was born here, the only one to survive this Twoleg's first litter. But I saw the fate that my parents went through, cooped up in cages, and I ran away before it put me in one, too. I became a Clan cat, but I was banished from my Clan, so I came back here. Since I am from its very first litter, the Twoleg did not force me to mate, and I get to roam free." He glanced briefly at Swift. "It takes in injured cats and lets them do whatever they want until they are back to a healthy state. When that happens, you get put in a cage, forced to have kits. I've seen it happen too many times. I'm guessing it will happen to you and your friend if you don't escape in time."


End file.
